Muddy pants !

Odd description for a bird picture you might think, but there is a reason behind it.

I bumped in to a buddy of mine while out taking pictures of flying Ducks and Wigeons.

He told me about this rare (for the Netherlands) species of grebe which was supposed to swimming around in a lake nearby.

As I had never seen this bird before (nor did he) we decided to go and have a look, after slipping and sliding for several hundred yards along a muddy track we did spot a pair of them close to the lakeshore.

As every photographer knows for the best results you must get down to eyelevel, be it wild animals, pets or people.

We looked at each other, we looked at the mud , we looked at each other again ... and thought "what the hell" we might never see this bird again so lets do it.

And down we went in the mud, as the birds where feeding along the shore we had to get up every now and again, walk a few yards and dive in the mud again.

We got the shots we wanted but I don't need to tell you what our pants looked like afterwards.

With hindsight I now understand why this photographer we saw in the carpark was taking his rain gear of, and it did not even rain. :)